Honesty In Emily Dickinson's Poem 'Mollified Again'

Mollified Again

Tell the truth, but don’t be honest. Dickinson introduces the grey into man’s ideological construct as she seeks to redefine honesty to her audience. At least, Emily Dickinson reasons in her poem, “Tell all the truth but tell it slant,” man must “slant” the truth if he wants others to hear what he is saying. Utilizing iambic meter, patterns of rhyme, and metaphor, Dickinson illustrates to her audience that man needs blunted truth.

Dickinson incorporates iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter throughout her work to parallel her philosophy of abated truth. The lack of consistency provided by the use of irregular meter represents to the audience the similar nature and pattern man speaks in when trying very hard to be honest, but ultimately losing resolve and sweetening his words instead. Man falls into a cyclical pattern of telling half-truths because, like the rhythm of the iambic meter, it sounds better to his natural ears. Honesty in degrees is therefore a truer representation of how to tell man the truth as demonstrated in the alignment of the irregular meter of iambic tetrameter and trimeter.

Through the use of rhyme patterns: rhyme schemes and end rhymes, Dickinson mimics how truth must be mollified for man to comprehend.

Through the depicted rhyme scheme of ABABCDCD, the audience feels a placated chaos. The lack of consistency parallels the tendency to blunt the truth while still maintaining a pattern of pleasing schemes to the hearer’s ears. Similarly, the end rhymes, such as “slant” and “delight” and “eased” and “blind” are not perfect rhymes but slant rhymes, still pleasing to the ear of the intended flatter-ee, but not a true (perfect)

rhyme.

Dickinson uses metaphors to indirectly make comparisons throughout her text, which parallels Dickinson’s illustration to “tell all the truth but tell it slant.” Dickinson writes that, “Success in Circuit lies.” The word Circuit is used metaphorically to connote that it is through an iterative pattern of half-truths man can find success in obtaining “all the truth.” Additionally, Dickinson compares Lightning to truth. Lightning is brilliant, electrifying and capable of striking man down. Because of the powerful nature of lightning, to which Dickinson compares truth to, Dickinson explains lightning’s power was “eased with explanation kind,” or simply stated, “eased with compliments.” Lastly, the word Children is used metaphorically to connote the mental capacity of all man when receiving truth. “The Truth must dazzle gradually/ Or every man be blind.” With the mental maturity of a child, man is unable to comprehend the “Truth,” or all the truth, until it has been broken down and taught to man slowly, gradually.

As demonstrated by Dickinson, man’s pattern of speech can convey a lack of inconsistency, which parallel’s man’s natural tendency to be honest in degrees. Likewise, the phrasing man chooses, often mimics the message of half-truths being said, which is pleasing and flattering to the hearer’s ear. The process, being pleasing continues on in a cyclical pattern, slants the truth in an attempt to tell man the truth. Through the elements of iambic meter, rhyme pattern and metaphor, Dickinson parallels the significance of slanted truths to emphasize the inability man has to comprehend complete truths at once.